Avocado Oil: What It Actually Does in Your Body

Avocado oil is roughly 70% oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat that acts as a carrier for fat-soluble vitamins and carotenoids. When consumed alongside leafy greens, even a few teaspoons can increase the absorption of compounds like beta-carotene and lutein by several-fold, turning nutrients that would otherwise pass through you into nutrients your body can actually use.

Fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K require dietary fat to cross the intestinal wall. Without it, they move through your digestive tract largely unabsorbed. This is not a marginal difference.

A crossover study at Ohio State University gave healthy adults salads with or without avocado oil. The group that received 24 grams of avocado oil absorbed alpha-carotene at 7.2 times the rate of the control group, beta-carotene at 15.3 times, and lutein at 5.1 times.¹ The study found no significant difference between avocado fruit and avocado oil as the fat source, meaning the oil alone was enough to produce the effect.

A follow-up study from the same lab measured not just absorption but conversion. When participants ate carotenoid-rich foods with avocado, the body's conversion of provitamin A carotenoids into usable vitamin A increased by 4.6-fold in one trial and 12.6-fold in another.² That second number matters. Absorption is only half the equation. If carotenoids are absorbed but not converted, they cannot function as vitamin A.

The mechanism is straightforward. Monounsaturated fats help dissolve carotenoids and fat-soluble vitamins into tiny lipid droplets called micelles. Micelles are what actually cross the intestinal lining and enter circulation. More fat in the right form means more micelles, which means more of the good stuff reaches your blood.

In the Unlu et al. study, neither the dose of avocado nor the fat source (fruit vs. oil) significantly affected carotenoid absorption. The lipids themselves did the work.¹

This applies to green drinks specifically. Leafy greens are loaded with beta-carotene, lutein, and vitamin K, but greens are naturally very low in fat. Without a fat source in the same meal or drink, a meaningful percentage of those compounds leaves the body unused.

Avocado oil is not just a carrier. It brings its own nutrients to the table.

One tablespoon (about 14 grams) contains roughly 124 calories and 14 grams of fat, broken down as approximately 10 grams monounsaturated, 2 grams polyunsaturated, and 2 grams saturated.³ It also provides about 3.5 milligrams of vitamin E per tablespoon, which is roughly 23% of the daily recommended intake.⁴

Cold-pressed avocado oil retains lutein, a carotenoid that supports eye health. It also contains phytosterols, particularly beta-sitosterol, which have been studied for their role in supporting healthy cholesterol levels.⁵

In a green drink, a few teaspoons of avocado oil add roughly 40 to 80 calories. For context, that is less than a tablespoon of peanut butter but with a broader fatty acid profile and better nutrient synergy with the greens already in the drink.

Not all avocado oil is the same. A 2020 study from UC Davis found that a majority of avocado oils sold in the United States were either rancid before their labeled expiration date or adulterated with cheaper oils like soybean oil.⁶ Some bottles labeled "pure" or "extra virgin" were found to contain almost no avocado oil at all.

Cold-pressed, unrefined avocado oil has a deep green color from retained chlorophyll and carotenoids. Refined avocado oil is lighter in color, has a more neutral flavor, and a higher smoke point, but loses some of its antioxidant content during processing.

For use in a raw, blended green drink, cold-pressed is the better choice. The oil is never heated, so the higher smoke point of refined oil is irrelevant. What matters is the nutrient content, and cold-pressed retains more of the vitamin E, lutein, and phytosterols.

When reading labels, look for "cold-pressed" or "extra virgin" in dark glass bottles with a harvest or production date. Avoid bottles that do not list the source or that are unusually cheap relative to market pricing.

Anyone who has blended leafy greens in a high-speed blender knows the foam problem. The insoluble fiber in greens traps air during blending, and proteins and pectins stabilize those bubbles into a thick, persistent froth.

A small amount of oil changes this. Fats reduce surface tension and destabilize foam bubbles, allowing trapped air to escape rather than sitting on top of the drink. This is basic food science, and the same reason a few drops of oil are used in commercial food production to control foam.

In a blended green drink, one to two teaspoons of avocado oil produces a noticeably smoother, creamier texture with less separation. The drink pours more cleanly, stores better (less oxidation at the surface), and the mouthfeel shifts from airy and gritty to smooth and substantial.

This is a practical benefit that most people notice immediately, even before they understand the absorption science.

Different oils bring different strengths. Here is how the most common options stack up when used specifically in blended green drinks.

The key differentiator for avocado oil in green drinks is the combination of direct human evidence on carotenoid absorption, a neutral flavor that does not compete with the greens, and stability at room temperature without solidifying.

Avocado oil in a green drink is most useful for people who eat low-fat diets, skip meals, or tend to consume their greens without any fat source. If your breakfast is greens and water, you are leaving nutrients on the table.

It is also relevant for people over 50, who tend to absorb fat-soluble vitamins less efficiently, and for anyone focused on eye health, since lutein absorption is directly fat-dependent.

People with a known avocado allergy should avoid avocado oil entirely. Cross-reactivity with latex and birch pollen allergies is documented, so if either applies, check with a healthcare provider first.

For people who already eat fat-rich meals alongside their greens, the additional benefit of oil in the drink itself is smaller. The body only needs a modest amount of fat to trigger micelle formation. More fat does not always mean more absorption once the threshold is met.

Calorie-conscious individuals should also factor in the 40 to 80 calories per serving. It is a small amount in context, but it is not zero.

Every Sunrise Blends bottle contains a few teaspoons of avocado oil. It is there for two reasons: to help your body absorb the fat-soluble vitamins and carotenoids from the greens already in the blend, and to reduce the foam and separation that happen when you blend whole vegetables at high speed.

It is not a marketing ingredient. It is a functional one. The greens do the heavy lifting. The avocado oil makes sure what is in those greens actually reaches your bloodstream.

If you have been drinking green juices or smoothies without a fat source, the research suggests you have been absorbing a fraction of the beta-carotene, lutein, and vitamin K those drinks contain. A small amount of the right fat, consumed at the same time, changes that.

Sources cited in this article:

1. Unlu NZ, Bohn T, Clinton SK, Schwartz SJ. Carotenoid absorption from salad and salsa by humans is enhanced by the addition of avocado or avocado oil. Journal of Nutrition. 2005;135(3):431-436.
2. Kopec RE, Cooperstone JL, Schweiggert RM, Young GS, Harrison EH, Francis DM, Clinton SK, Schwartz SJ. Avocado consumption enhances human postprandial provitamin A absorption and conversion from a novel high-beta-carotene tomato sauce and from carrots. Journal of Nutrition. 2014;144(8):1158-1166.
3. U.S. Department of Agriculture, FoodData Central. Oil, avocado. FDC ID: 173573.
4. Berasategi I, Barriuso B, Ansorena D, Astiasarán I. Stability of avocado oil during heating: comparative study to olive oil. Food Chemistry. 2012;132(1):439-446.
5. Lerman-Garber I, Ichazo-Cerro S, Zamora-González J, Cardoso-Saldaña G, Posadas-Romero C. Effect of a high-monounsaturated fat diet enriched with avocado in NIDDM patients. Diabetes Care. 1994;17(4):311-315.
6. Green HS, Wang SC. First report on quality and purity evaluations of avocado oil sold in the US. Food Control. 2020;116:107328.